A Study On The Use Of Stance Markers In Argumentative Writings Of English Major Students

Stance is a very important way to express writers' or speakers' feelings,attitudes,value judgments,or assessments.Many researchers have conducted some researches on Stance and Stance markers,while there are a few empirical studies about the use of Stance markers in the argumentative writings of English major students.Therefore,this research mainly focuses on investigating the use of Stance markers of English major students' argumentative writings in their final examination,and attempts to answer the following questions:1)What are the general characteristics of the use of Stance markers in argumentative writings of English major students?2)Are there any differences in the use of Stance markers in argumentative writings between Freshmen and Juniors?If yes,what are they?3)Are there any differences in the use of Stance markers in argumentative writings between high-level and low-level groups?If yes,what are they?4)What is the relationship between the use of Stance markers and students'argumentative writing performance?The materials used in this study are 120 pieces of argumentative writings written by 60 Freshmen and 60 Juniors from English major in their final examination of writing class.Based on different scores of the argumentative writings for each grade,the author divides the top 20 pieces of argumentative writings into the high-level group and the last 20 into the low-level group.According to the definition and classification of Stance markers made by Biber et al.(1999),this thesis mainly focuses on calculating and analyzing the total number of Stance markers,the frequency of use of Stance markers,the different types of Stance markers and erroneous Stance markers in English major students' argumentative writings.Besides,a semi-structure interview with 12 students chosen from the two grades is involved in this study so as to explore the use of Stance markers among English major students in a comprehensive way.Detailed analyses of both quantitative and qualitative methods yield the following findings:Firstly,both Freshmen and Juniors use Stance markers in their argumentative writings to some extent,accounting for 8.02%.Of four types of Stance markers(Modal and semi-modal verbs,Stance adverbs,Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns,and Stance phrases or sentences),Freshmen use Modal and semi-modal verbs the most,followed by Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns,Stance phrases or sentences,and Stance adverbs,while Juniors use Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns the most,followed by Stance adverbs,Modal and semi-modal verbs,and Stance phrases or sentences.Besides,Freshmen's and Juniors' total number of erroneous Stance markers are both small,and their percentages account for 2.67%and 0.87%respectively in their argumentative writings.Secondly,there exist some differences in the use of Stance markers between Freshmen and Juniors in terms of the total number and the types of Stance markers.First,in term of the total number of Stance markers,there exists a significant difference between Freshmen and Juniors(p=.000<.005).Second,in terms of the types of Stance markers(Modal and semi-modal verbs,Stance adverbs,Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns and Stance phrases or sentences),there also exist significant differences between Freshmen and Juniors(p=.000<.005;p=.000<.005;p=.000<.005;p= 000<.005).Thirdly,there do exist some differences in the use of Stance markers between high-level and low-level groups in terms of the total number and the types of Stance markers.First,in term of the total number of Stance markers,significant differences exist between high-level and low-level Freshmen(p=.000<.005),as well as between high-level and low-level Juniors(p=.000<.005).Moreover,in terms of the types of Stance markers(Modal and semi-modal verbs,Stance adverbs,Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns and Stance phrases or sentences),there also exist significant differences between high-level and low-level Freshmen(p=.000<.005;p=.001<.005;p=.002<.005;p=.001<.005),as well as between high-level and low-level Juniors(p=.003<.005;p=.000<.005;p=.000<.005).However,there is no significant difference in the type of Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns between high-level and low-level Juniors(p=.097>.05).Finally,the total number of Stance markers used in Freshmen's argumentative writings is positively correlated with their argumentative writing performance at the.01 level,and the total number of Stance markers in Juniors' argumentative writings has a positive correlation with their argumentative writing performance at the.01 level.As for the types of Stance markers and Freshmen's argumentative writings,the four types of Stance markers-Modal and semi-modal verbs,Stance adverbs,Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns and Stance phrases or sentences,all have significant correlations with Freshmen's argumentative writing performance at the.01 level.When it comes to the types of Stance markers and Juniors'argumentative writings,three types of Stance markers-Modal and semi-modal verbs,Stance adverbs,and Stance phrases or sentences have significant correlations with Juniors'argumentative writing performance at the.01 level,while the type of Complement clauses controlled by Stance verbs,adjectives,or nouns has a significant correlation with Juniors'argumentative writing performance at the.05 level.The findings of this study have some pedagogical implications for English writing teaching.During the teaching process,teachers should try their best to enrich students' more knowledge of Stance markers,raise students' awareness of using Stance markers,and pay more attention to low-level students or low-grade students.And for learning,students should accumulate enough Stance markers and make good use of Stance markers in their argumentative writings.